A nationwide prayer campaign for peace was launched Tuesday ahead of Sudan’s upcoming referendum in January, when the South is expected to vote for independence from the North.

The Catholic Church launched the prayer campaign in Sudan just days after The Episcopal Church urged its U.S. members to observe “A Season of Prayer for Sudan.” Like other international observers, both church bodies worry that violence will breakout in the months leading up to the highly-anticipated referendum. more >>

The decision of the Karen National Union to observe a one-day ceasefire on the International Day of Peace has been welcomed by Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

The Christian human rights group said the move was an “important sign of respect” for the day of peace on September 21 and a “symbol of the Karen people’s desire for peace and freedom.”

The KNU is one of the largest armed groups in Burma and has been locked in conflict against military offensives by successive regimes for the last 60 years. more >>

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted Wednesday that the leaders of the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority were “serious” about a peace deal, despite no visible evidence that the closed-door negotiations were going well.

“They are getting down to business and they have begun to grapple with the core issues that can only be resolved with face-to-face negotiations,” Clinton said Wednesday morning to reporters.

“I believe they are serious about reaching an agreement… This is the time and these are the leaders and the United States will stand by them as they make difficult decisions,” she added. more >>

The head of the world’s largest evangelical body on Wednesday spoke for the first time with the pastor behind the planned Sept. 11 Quran burning.

Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, CEO and secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance, tried to dissuade Dr. Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., from following through on his controversial plan, which has sparked protests overseas and prompted pleas from U.S. government officials.

Tunnicliffe, whose organization represents 420 million evangelicals, said Jones seemed a “bit ambivalent” about going through with the event but did not say anything new. The evangelical leader offered to fly down to Florida on Friday – one day before the event – to speak to Jones and his congregation. more >>

The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said Monday that a Florida church’s plan to burn Qurans on Sept. 11 could be detrimental to American troops overseas.

"It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort in Afghanistan,” said Gen. David Petraeus in a statement. “It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems. Not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community."

There are about 140,000 U.S. and NATO-led troops in Afghanistan. more >>

The nation’s largest evangelical body is urging the Florida church behind “International Burn A Quran Day” to cancel its plans.

Plans to burn Islam’s holy book on the ninth anniversary of Sept. 11 shows “disrespect” for Muslims and would only “exacerbate tensions” in Christian-Muslim relations worldwide, stated the National Association of Evangelicals on Thursday.

“It sounds like the proposed Quran burning is rooted in revenge,” said NAE President Leith Anderson, in a statement. “Yet the Bible says that Christians should ‘make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else’ (I Thessalonians 5:15).” more >>